Jack's and Sally's Christmas Surprise
by Silver Lady7
Summary: Jack still loves Christmas, but he feels depressed because he can't celebrate it with his people. However, things can be very surprising.


_Hello! I know you must be probably wondering when I'll ever finish A Light in the Tower. Don't worry, it's coming, but there are many personal things that have been slowing me down. I've been wanting to write this little story for months, and it's seem quite proper for the season, even if it's not entirely complete. My great thanks for Sage of Darkness for beta-reading it for me, and also for giving me the part I need to complete this chapter._

_Hope you'll enjoy it. And a Merry Christmas for everyone!  _

**Jack's and Sally's Christmas Surprise**

"A...A... A...AAACHOOO!" the Mayor sneezed and sniffed noisily on his hankie for the tenth time that morning. Discreetly, Jack took a step aside. In his two centuries of reign he never had caught a cold or any other sort of disease, but why to take the risk?

They watched as the Halloweeners happily enjoyed their first snowy day in the year, like they had been doing since that night when Sandy Claws brought the snow to the land of Halloween two years ago. From that night on, the snow fell upon Halloweentown every December month. Unlike the first time, when the snow had last just one night and one day, however, now it lasted one week and a half, roughly. The Halloweeners always looked forward for the snow; with an excitement that only got parallel to the cheer and enthuse they always expected their own national holiday. Even the most anti-social inhabitants didn't escape completely from snow contamination. The Dr. Finkelstein could be occasionally seen, completely wrapped in wool and having his wheelchair pushed by his soul mate Pearl. And Lock, Shock and Barrel laughed in delight as they played at burying one of their siblings in the snow, or tossed snowballs on everybody.

However, both Jack and the Mayor seemed the only ones to not share such a happy mood.

"Look at all those lazy lobs!" the Mayor whined, frowning at a cheerful group of vampires who played hockey with a mummified head. The flu gave one extra touch of depression to his white, gloomy face "Every year's just the same. When this snow thing comes, everybody acts like crazy. Nobody wants to work, just to make snow figures and play all those silly games! I lost count of the times that they put my hat down with those devious snowballs...oh!" a big, well-aimed snowball connected to his hat and knocked it down. Both Jack and the Mayor turned around to see a tiny red tail that couldn't belong to anyone but Lock.

"See?" the Mayor bent to get his hat, but lost his balance and dived-nose on the snow. Promptly, Jack pulled the Mayor to his feet and handed him his hat after tapping off the snow from it. Inwardly, the skeleton felt sort of guilty at the Mayor's lecture. He still loved Christmas, but after his fiasco in trying to be Sandy Claws he never had courage to talk about the happy holiday again, much for the Halloweeners' relief. The snow was one of the few Christmas things Jack had; to hear the Mayor ranting against it made him feel like he was scolded.

"It's just for a few days, Mayor," he reasoned, "We've plenty of time to finish it until next Halloween, so a few days off won't hurt."

"Hmmpf." The politician didn't look convinced and honked on his handkerchief again. He hated snow. Alright, he had enjoyed it by the first time, but then he didn't expect it would come back every year like a curse. Thanks to Goddess it lasted only for a week. Even one day was too much for him. But the worst was that horrible cold. The Mayor wore every warm piece of cloth he had under his usual black coat, which made him to look even plumper that he really was. Even Jack, who wasn't cold by nature, was covered from head to toe. Over his usual pinstripped suit, he wore a long woolen overcoat closed by two files of buttons and kept tight on his waist by a belt. He also wore a hat, gloves and knee-length boots, everything black; a dark and dreary outfit indeed, perfect for the king of Halloween...save a long, flaming detail.

"Nice scarf." the Mayor glanced uncomfortably at the piece of wool that replaced Jack's usual bat-tie. The skeleton grinned vainfully.

"Thank you. Sally knitted it for me. She's been doing a lot of tricot lately, and she's as good in it as she is in sewing."

"But isn't it a little...err, bright?" the Mayor asked awkwardly. Jack chuckled.

"Funny, Sally asked me the same when I asked her to make it red. But it goes great with black, doesn't it?"

The Mayor restrained himself from shaking his head. Some things never would change in Jack...

Sally walked towards them, her blue, pale cheeks slightly purple because of the cold. A tender smile spread across Jack's face as he spotted his wife, and even the Mayor couldn't help an admiring look. She looked a perfect queen in her long, thick, gray overcoat, with a trim of silver wolf fur, and a matching small hat.

"Hello, honey!" Jack and "What you have doing out here, in such a cold day?"

"I was checking on the production of candy and cookies. So good that we're still plenty of pumpkins in our stock."

One of Sally's tasks as a queen was supervising the production of food, what she did greatly. And, after Halloweentown passed to have snow, its people had become used to stock previously pumpkins and other perishable food for the winter.

"I was going back home, but I thought that..." she looked down timidly, "...perhaps we could continue with our ice-skating lesson."

"Perhaps tomorrow." Jack sighed "I...I'm not in the mood. Sorry."

Both Sally and the Mayor looked at him in shock. Jack loved ice-skating, actually, he was exceptionally adept at it with his graceful carriage and natural agility.

"Something wrong?" Sally asked with concern.

"Huh? No, nothing wrong." Jack forced a chuckle "I just feel a little tired, that's all. Must have caught the flu."

The Mayor glanced guiltily at his dirty hankie. Sally stared at them both.

"You two shouldn't stand out here that long, in the cold." she gently touched Jack's arm "Let's go home. I'll make you hot cocoa."

"Thanks, Sally" the Mayor sniffed "Maybe another time. I'd like to exchange a few words with you."

The couple looked surprised, especially Sally. Although the Mayor always treated her gently, she was aware of his secret jealousy about her influence over Jack. Through the time, his attitude had gradually turned into respect, then into friendship. However, he never would think of asking her advice.

"Are you going to be okay, Jack?" she asked tentatively, not wanting to leave him when he could be sick.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry. " He pecked Sally on her cheek "See you at home."

Sally watched her husband go with concern. They were married for two years now, and everybody in town agreed there was no happier people than them, and that the Halloweens were better than ever. Those last days, ultimately, Sally felt there was something about Jack that she couldn't decide. Like he was hiding something from her.

The Mayor ushered her into the empty Town Hall. It was even colder inside than out there, and Sally embraced herself in despite of her thick coat. The situation reminded her other scene, two years ago, when the Mayor had called her in private and questioned about her intentions towards Jack. But no, it couldn't be anything like this. After all the trouble, the Mayor had regretted truly and apologized a hundred of times.

The Mayor probably remembered that, too, since he looked as uncomfortable as Sally was. He walked towards a table and started playing with some paperwork. Patiently, Sally waited for him to start.

"Sally, I know I wasn't nice to you at first." he said at last.

"Nonsense, Mayor." the doll replied dismissively " You've always been nice to me."

"You're very kind, Sally, but we both know this is not true. I will be honest, when Jack fell for you..." He flushed. "When you and Jack started dating and all, I was concerned that..." He played with his fingers.

"That I distracted him from work?" Sally tried to help.

"Well, yes." the politician admitted, ashamed "I was afraid that if he married you he'd never be able to concentrate fully in his work and that would be the end of Halloween. But I'm glad to admit I was wrong." he switched his head for a smile "During the two centuries that I've worked side by side with Jack I never saw him so happy."

Now it was Sally's turn to flush.

"W-why..."she stuttered, but the Mayor went on: "I'm not kidding, Sally. Look, those last years before Jack falling for that Christmas stuff..."his face switched to sad again "you hadn't how to know since you didn't exist then, but Jack wasn't in his old bony self. Well, I don't mean he was doing it bad, the Halloweens were great as ever, but Jack couldn't concentrate himself on work, most of time it was like his mind was lost somewhere else. I lost my account of how many times I practically had to drag him to work, and...Honestly, he almost made me crazy sometimes." the Mayor shook his head.

Sally finally intuited what was behind the politician's ranting.

"You mean that he's like this again."

The Mayor's face switched to a grin for a moment: "Yes!" then it spun back to moody again "Sally, as hard as it is for me to admit, you know him better than anybody else, even than I do. Can you tell me what is wrong?"

"I wish," the rag doll looked wistful "He was the same way last year... Just when the snow started to fall…" her eyes widened as the light came. She looked at the Mayor and saw he had the same thought.

"The Christmas!" they exclaimed at the same time.

"I hadn't thought of that." the Mayor shook his head dumbly, with the look of someone who's not much used to think. "Do you think that he… he blames himself because of what he did two years ago?"

"It's possible," Sally looked thoughtful" But, I don't know. Doesn't make much sense to me. After all, no one was hurt, and everything ended up well..." especially for me, the doll added in mentally "Sandy Claws even forgave Jack for kidnapping him and now they're friends. If even Mr. Claws doesn't blame him, why Jack would?"

"Because that year there was no Halloween!" the Mayor said victoriously "He must be ashamed for having neglected his responsibility!" he held Sally's hands in enthusiasm "I'll tell you what we'll do. We must organize a party, so we'll show Jack that we forgave him!" he started as Sally watched him.

"I need you a favor. Could you please distract Jack for a while, as I summon everybody for a secret Town Meeting?"

"Okay..." Sally trailed off, and left as the Mayor ran in search of a messenger to summon everybody into the Town Hall as discreet as possible

She wasn't satisfied. Deep, very deep within, she sensed that there was another thing disturbing her dearest Jack.

Jack crouched in front of the open cedar chest and buried his hands on the treasures concealed inside. Treasures at least for him; anyone else that watched the scene would wonder what was so special in old dusty toys and misshapen Christmas adornments. For Jack, however, those things still fascinated him. It was a much concealed secret, one that he didn't share even with Sally, the only person that he trusted fully. A large, beatific smile stretched his mouth as he contemplated a long red string with tiny golden bells entwined in his bone fingers. He shook it, smiling childishly as he heard the sweet sound of the bells; then, he put the string back in the chest and picked up two toys: a chubby rag doll with hair of yarn and a small wooden train. Despite the dust, both the toys were in perfect state; maybe they could serve for his children to play with, one day... if he and Sally had children. They didn't know for sure if it was possible such a thing to happen between a skeleton and a rag doll, even though they were able to... heehee, who could ever suspected that his timid, sweet girl could hide such a fire within? Jack smirked.

The thought about Sally reminded him that she would be back home soon, and his smile faded. Slowly, he put all the trinkets back into the chest, savouring the reality of them. Then, he sunk his shoulders and let out a long-suffering sigh. Zero, who had been sniffing at a skeletal rat behind some old furniture, whipped up his head at the sound he knew well. Giving an interrogative whoof, he floated towards his master with concern. Since Jack had adopted him for his pet, Zero had got used to see him drop occasionally from his usual happy mood to a grey depression. However, that had changed since the pretty blue lady had come to live with them and had turned into his mistress.

He brushed his snout on Jack's kilometric leg. Jack absently patted him on his head.

"Ah, Zero. If I only could tell them how much Christmas means to me... But I can't. Nobody would understand."

"Whoof?" Zero did in an interrogative tone.

"No, Zero. Even Sally must not know." He reminded the way she had tried to prevent him against Christmas. She was right, that's true. But if he talked about the holiday again, she could become worried.

"Hello?" called a voice from downstairs. Jack stood up with a start.

"Jack? Where are you?" she called again. He almost could see her looking around wondering where he was. That took him out of his stupor.

"Up here, honey! I'm coming soon!" Jack yelled as he whirled, in a rush to pack down the merry memorbilia and lock the chest properly---everything looked alright, here was the lock---and, by shutting the lid, snapped a jinglebell--which had been caught on one side--off its ribbon and sent it clittering through the doorway to strike the opposite wall with its distinct jangle, before rolling further.

"What are you doing up there?" Sally asked as she started up the stairs, but suddenly stopped when she caught both the brief ring and muted flash of gold. She hurried the rest of the way, plucking the bell from the crack it had come to rest in even as a panicked Pumpkin King darted around the corner, nearly colliding with his wife. The queen was holding her find up to the light with an expression of wonder, before blinking at Jack and turning into the room he'd just vacated.

"What is all this?" Sally could speak only quietly.

The skeleton-man stood in the hall for a long moment, sockets shut. He then heaved a sigh and followed after, tapping his bony fingertips against each other in a series of small clacks. "I-It's just a few trifles. I meant to throw them away, but never took the time..."

"Throw away?" Sally exclaimed shocked, the corner of her eye catching another golden glint from behind Jack. She walked past him and bent over the locked chest. A long, red ribbon with tiny golden bells was sticking out from it. She turned to look at Jack with a begging look. Seeing there wasn't how to conceal anyway, her husband resignedly unlocked the chest and opened it. The ragdoll's eyes opened wide at all those marvelous things, just like Jack's socket's had, a few minutes ago.

"You were planning to throw all that away? Oh Jack, you must be kidding! Look at this! And this!" she let out squeals of delight at every new colorful surprise.

"Do...do you really like these things?" Jack blurted out, not believing in what he was seeing "You have not to pretend it to please me."

"Of course I like!" Sally spun to look at him "Why wouldn't I..." she trailed off as she looked Jack, eyes into eye sockets. The remembrances of two years ago ran trough Sally's mind. Jack happily showing all those stuff in the Town Meeting, the people looking unimpressed and he becoming frustrated by learning his subjects didn't feel the way he did (excepting she).That was it. He still loved Christmas. But after all that confusion he had no nerve to talk about it anymore. Sally felt a wave of pity overwhelming her. Moments like this she realized the absolute loneliness Jack had spent all those years before she had been built. True she had spent most part of her short life alone, but it couldn't be compared to spend two centuries all by himself, adored by everyone but having none that really understood him.

Jack, by his turn was taken by confuse feelings. By one side, he felt both relieved and pleased that she was as enchanted as he; by another, he felt also ashamed by having not trusted on her, and fearing that she could be upset at him because of this.

They stared at each other a long moment, in mutual comprehension. Even Zero was silent, as if fearing to break that. Sally stood up and took Jack's hands.

"I'm sorry, Jack. Is that why you've been acting strangely, isn't it? You miss Christmas, but you won't say. "

"If there's someone who must say sorry it's me. I should have trusted you, but I... I always forget that you're not like the others." Jack looked like he was about to cry. Sally lunged forward and embraced him, resting her head on his shoulder as she felt his long bony arms wrapping themselves tightly around her.

"I have no words to tell you, Sally," he muttered huskily, his face buried in her hair "how much you mean to me. As much time as we spend together, I wonder how I could live so long without you." he kissed her hair.

"Jack..."Sally muttered, her face buried in his coat, unable to say anything else. If she only could tell him how much those words meant for her... How many times she had stared at his tower, dreaming of him telling her such lovely things?

Then, Jack pulled back a little and gently lifted up her chin, making her look up at him. Looking into his eye sockets, she learned that she didn't have to say a word. Somehow he understood.

"I love you." Jack whispered, resting his boney fingers under her chin.

"I love you, t..."Sally started, but just that moment they were interrupted by a scratching noise. Zero had apparently found something very interesting in Jack's recordings chest and was fussing behind it.

"Zero! Leave that!" Jack scolded, yanking a red-and-white candy stick from the dog's mouth "I know you like candy stick but this is too old! You might become sick if you eat it!"

Zero slumped down and whined. Jack dropped the candy stick back in the chest as Sally smiled with sympathy at the little dog.

"He's probably missing eating this candy, just like you miss the rest of the Christmas stuff. If I had the recipe, I could make some."

"You could learn it with Mrs. Claws." Jack suggested, after a pause. "I'm sure she would be pleased to teach you…" as he said that, his eyes sockets rounded wide. Abruptly, he took Sally's hands"What about we pay a visit to Christmastown?"

"A… visit? They won't mind?"

"Of course not! They'll love to see us! Sandy Claws adores you! He's always asking about you in his letters. And Mrs. Claws is such a dearest woman, you'll simply love her."

Sally would like to be as sure as Jack was. One year before their wedding, she had some adventures in the other holiday lands, and she knew that even her appearance, considered "not scary" by the other Halloweeners, could be found creepy by the foreigns. What was ironical. On the other hand, she always had wanted to meet Christmastown, and if they went there Jack wouldn't discover about the party.

"Okay. If you say so…" she looked thoughtfully about the rest of the contents in the chest "I'd really love to meet the land of Christmas. I used to think of how it is, since that first time you showed these things in the Town-Hall." She smiled at the remembrance "Did you know that was my first Town Meeting?"

"My poor little thing." He muttered with sympathy.

"And what's this?" she extricated from a box what looked alike a circle made of dead, dry herbs adorned with red ribbons and a small, golden bell. Jack smirked.

"This" he supplied as he took the object from Sally's hands, making the bell ring "is called mistletoe. People use to hang this over their doors or fireplaces and" he lifted his long arm up, hanging the dead, noisy thing over his own skull, his devious grin widening "if someone stands under the mistletoe, you have to kiss them." He blinked at her. Sally laughed.

"Like if you needed that, you little fool" she said as she closed her eyes and tip-toed to offer him her lips.

The bell rang frenetically.

"You can't imagine what I found out!" Lock entered happily at the room of the house-tree. His siblings didn't respond him, because Shock was very busy pinning Barrel onto the floor and Barrel was very busy trying to keep her hands from his neck. None of the two could remember why they were fighting, but that didn't matter at all.

"Won't you ask me what I found out?" the little devil stomped with frustrated annoyance.

"No." Shock looked up from the choking Barrel for a moment as she responded. The fat boy took the advantage to connect his ankle to Shock's left calve, causing her to collapse on her back. Barrel jumped over her and they rolled around. Lock rolled his eyes and ran to the kitchen to return carrying two big, round balloons filled with water. Barrel was at the top of Shock and had started to pull her hair when the first balloon splooshed over them. Both kids stopped within the act. Lock lifted up the second balloon over his head threateningly:

"Shall I throw this, too?"

His siblings shook their soaked heads with emphasis, sending water drops all over. Having their grudge attention at last, the oldest member of the trio started:

" They're going to make a party for Jack!"

"A party?" Shock blinked under her soaked hair.

"With candies?" Barrel asked eagerly.

Lock nodded at both questions. Shock looked at him suspiciously.

"But why are they making a party out of Halloween time? Are they celebrating again that, ugh..."she shuddered"...that Christmas thing again?"

"Maybe it's Jack's birthday." Barrel suggested before Lock could open his mouth. His siblings gave him a "doh" look and he silenced.

"I heard the Mayor discussing with Sally. They are very concerned about Jack 'cause he's been a little sad these days. The Mayor thinks that he's still ashamed because he messed up with Christmas two years ago. "

"He has really a lot to be ashamed of." Shock nodded with emphasis.

"Specially those ridiculous red clothes!" Barrel laughed.

"Will you let me finish?" Lock snapped" The Mayor said that Jack must feel guilty because there was no Halloween that year, and that's why he feels bad whenever it snows."

"So they are making a party to make him feel better?" Shock guessed, and the blue-lipped devil gave a nod.

"But where do we get in this?" Barrel was still puzzled. Lock concked him on his head.

"Wake up! That's our time to get revenge on Jack, for everything he has done for us! Listen, that's my plan…"

"But for this we'll have to go to Christmas town again! Yuck!" Shock made a face "I hate that place."

Barrel enjoyed the idea because they could take the advantage and steal some candy. But he still feared the king's wrath

"Jack told us to never go back there again."

"Jack'll never know. The Mayor asked Sally to entertain the big bone as everybody organizes the party. He'll be very, very busy by the next hours… if you see what I mean." Lock winked and gliggled maliciously. Barrel took a few seconds to understand, then he laughed, too. Shock, however, wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Okay, let's go." She cut in "If you really want to do this, we must go now, before anyone suspects." Her brothers agreed. Lock started his way at the door, but she gave Barrel a signal.

"Ah, and, Lock... before we'll forget it… "Shock said, then she and Barrel tossed the remaining balloon over Lock and ran away before he could retaliate.

_To Continue_


End file.
